Monday 10/01 A.M. Quickie:MLB Playoff! NFL Recods! CFB Mayhem! More!

MLB Playoff Races: We've got a one-game playoff!Rockies vs. Padres at Coors Field. Winner is the Wild Card; loser is out of the playoffs, joining the choking Mets watching the proceedings at home. You've got to love the one-game playoff.

Jake Peavy vs. Josh Fogg, and there's an intriguing side-show that Matt Holliday could lose the NL batting title if he goes 0-for-5, because the game counts as a regular-season game.

Pick: Rockies. Wow. Peavy is the best pitcher in the NL, if not all of baseball. The Rockies are the hottest team in the NL, if not all of baseball. Something's got to give, and I'm picking the Rockies to win at home.

Phillies win NL East/Mets choke away NL East: Philly coming back from 7 games down on September 12 matches the biggest standings comeback in MLB history. (This isn't very "Instant History," but I'd say this exorcises Philly's Ghosts of 1964.)

The Phillies are playing with a lot of mojo right now, but I'm waiting until seeing the results of the Wild Card playoff to make my World Series pick. (Stud: NL MVP contender Jimmy Rollins, for calling this back in February, then leading his team to back it up.)

...But I will say that the best-case scenario for MLB is that it's Cubs-Phillies in the NLCS and Red Sox-Yankees in the ALCS, with the Cubs ideally making the World Series against whoever survives the Boston-NY series.

NFL Weekend Wrap: The story of the year in the NFL has got to be the resurgence of the Green Bay Packers behind the ageless Brett Favre, who set the all-time TD record in a win over the Vikings that ran the Packers' record to 4-0. TD pass No. 421 came in the first quarter; he added No. 422 in the 4th. Unbreakable record? (Unbreakable? Hardly. As Commenters pointed out: Ummm...PEYTON MANNING?!)

But the offensive story of the day had to be the Lions' 34 4th-quarter points, an NFL record, en route to beating the now-hapless Bears. Maybe there's something to that offseason Jon Kitna season-win-total guarantee.

Griese, Grossman: It just doesn't seem to matter. At this rate, the Bears (1-3) will have their choice of the particularly loaded 2008 QB Draft class.

Fantasy Stud 1: Giants D, which tied an NFL record with 12 sacks in holding last week's explosive Eagles offense to a measly 3 points. (Osi Umenyiora had six sacks by himself.) Apparently, it's harder for McNabb to throw for a gajillion yards and tons of TDs without Brian Westbrook there to balance the offense.

Fantasy Stud 2: Daunte Culpepper, who had 3 TDs -- rushing! -- and another 2 passing. Sure, he didn't throw for many yards, but with that many TDs, who cares?

Tony Romo ain't bad either: 339 yards, 3 TDs in another Cowboys romp. If you drafted Romo in the middle of your fantasy league, you're sitting so pretty right now.

Rams the NFL's worst: Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, yes, confirming Friday's speculation, the Rams are in fact the worst team in the NFL.

Things have hit rock-bottom for the Chargers. Not only are they 1-3, but they lost to the hapless Chiefs. I mean, yikes, the Chargers crowd was openly cheering for Marty Schottenheimer! It's a full-on revolt.

(Maybe if the Chargers fire Norv Turner – as they should today – he can return to San Francisco and save what's left of Alex Smith's battered young career.)

Fantasy Dud: Cadillac Williams, who could be done for the season.

Broken Colts top broken Denver: Wow, Denver isn't great, but they're not a bad team either (particularly defensively), and the Colts broke them. (Speaking of broken, keep an eye on all those Colts injuries: Harrison, Addai, Morris, Sanders, Utecht.)

OK, so given the grief that the Falcons have taken for letting Matt Schaub go, it must have been particularly sweet to beat him, especially because it was Atlanta's first win of the season.

Cleveland has a better record than a third of the league, and that's with Derek Anderson as their QB. Good for them! Romeo Crennel for Coach of the Year!

Eliminator/Suicide Picks: Anyone have their season ruined by Arizona beating Pittsburgh? (Oh, right: Matt Leinart had HIS season ruined! There's a full-blown controversy in Arizona, and it feels like Kurt Warner is going to win it.)

This week's Adrian Peterson Memorial Rookie of the Week: Dwayne Bowe, who caught 8 passes for 164 yards and a TD, showing up every other skill-position player on the field, including Tomlinson.

(Honorable Mention: Trent Edwards. It's hard enough to be a rookie in the NFL, let alone a rookie QB, let alone starting for a winless team. Edwards got the win.)

MNF: Pats at Bengals. Here's another chance for the Pats to show how dominant they are. Not only will they slice up a Bengals D that allowed Cleveland to score 50-plus points, but I'll bet they stifle the high-powered Cincinnati offense, too.

CFB Saturday Recap: Cripes, has the dust settled yet? It was a multi-upset parlay that NO ONE could have predicted. Maybe one or two games, sure, but ALL those upset results? (Not to mention the close finishes for other top teams like USC and Wisconsin.)

In addition to South Florida, the weekend's big winner is Cal: Winning at Oregon is arguably the most impressive single win of the year. They've been rewarded in the polls with a No. 3 ranking. It's all meaningless, however, unless the Bears beat USC in a few weeks (or lose to anyone along the way).

Florida loses: Obviously, I was (and continue to be) crushed about Florida's loss. They played horribly in the first half; they couldn't have played worse. In the second half, they did the worst thing they could have: Allow for hope. When the game was tied at 17, I thought they would pull it out. Even as the Auburn kicker lined up for his re-do of a game-winning 43-yard kick, I figured the game would go to OT. When it went through, I psychologically crumpled. (I will tip my cap, however, to that Auburn kicker, a true freshman no less, who basically nailed TWO 43-yard game-winning field goals on the road.)

CFB Top 25 This Week: There was one thing to watch for this week: Where would voters rank the six previously unbeaten contenders who lost – and which team would have the inside track at climbing back up? Florida emerges as the biggest winner, ranked No. 7 in the Coaches' poll. It's a moot point if the Gators lose at LSU next week (which they will).

The other thing to note is that LSU vaulted USC for No. 1 in the AP poll. Why is this notable? Because usually the voters are slaves to their own inertia; they rarely displaced a No. 1 team if that team wins, even if it's a tough or sloppy game. In this case, they did the right thing: LSU has consistently looked better than USC, and apparently USC's near-miss at Washington was enough to drop them. I was a little more harsh....

Here's my BlogPoll ballot: Note that I rank South Florida at No. 2, a function of USC not looking particularly dominant in that win at Washington -- and because not only did South Florida shut down the sick West Virginia offense, but all of a sudden, USF's win at Auburn (the team that just beat Florida at Florida) looks WAY more impressive.

The other thing to note is that I have both Cal and OhioState ranked ahead of USC. I think Cal has looked better (and winning at Oregon is more impressive than any single win USC has had this year); meanwhile, we have a nice direct point of comparison between the Trojans and the Buckeyes. Both played at Washington; both won; OhioState just looked better doing it.

Notre Dame SuckWatch: QB controversy! Hey, if the team is 0-5, at least they can provide a little QB controversy to spice things up. It turns out that Golden Boy Jimmy Clausen ain't all that, and backup Evan Sharpley did more (and better) things in his fill-in time against Purdue than Clausen has done all season combined.

Michigan forfeiting Penn State win?! If last week's off-field CFB intrigue was Mike Gundy's freak-out, then this week's is the emerging news that Michigan might have to forfeit its win over PennState because they used an ineligible player. That would instantly derail Michigan's miracle bid to win the Big Ten this season after their brutal start.

Boxing: I don't follow boxing, but Kelly Pavlik upsetting undisputed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor by KO appears to rank up there among the most incredible boxing results of the last two decades.

Women's World Cup: Germany tops Brazil for the title. The US ends up in 3rd, with Hope Solo not participating and the team in disarray after the combination of her benching and the throttling they took from Brazil.

NBA: If rookie PG Jared Jordan of Marist makes the Knicks, who just traded for him, he will be the most popular player on the team. Just a prediction. I think he'll end up in the D-League.

More: Will Leitch got an interview with Gilbert Arenas for Deadspin while Gil was in NYC. Needless to say, I'm so jealous. (But I don't think I would have gotten Gil to talk about his online surfing habits, which was the highlight of the interview.)

World Sports: It's worth noting that Haile Gebrselassie shattered the world record in the marathon by 29 seconds. That's insane.

68 comments:

This weekend was the perfect anti-Shanoff weekend. Your "favorite" CFB team Florida got shitted on. Your NFL picks went 3-10. Brett Favre, one of your most hated players, broke the all-time TD record. Your midseason prediction that the Mets were the new team of NY...went to shit after an epic Mets collapse. Perfect.Weekend.

It's pretty sad when the feeling down here in GA is, "We beat the Houston Texans... HOORAY for us!!!"

But that's OK... there's still plenty of time to tank the season and get a decent QB. Don't get suckered in by the ill-conceived notion that "hey, that Joey Harrington dude isn't half bad..." Yes, he is. In fact, he's probably EXACTLY half bad.

Other than that, good weekend for QB fans... Favre (congrats), Kitna (34?!? In the 4th?!?), Romo (kicks the ball 1/3 of the way down the field in the wrong direction and STILL makes the first down!)

And finally, wondering how much chunky soup McNabb saw last night after being pasted for 12 sacks, 6 at the hands of the Giants new sack machine, Osi.

The Chiefs aren't that hapless. The team reminds me of a poor man's Ravens from a couple of years ago. A solid defense and a terrible offense. Still the We Want Marty chants were priceless.

LSU didn't jump USC by that much. I think that UF should have dropped lower given that they lost at HOME to a team that is MEDIOCRE at best. Secondly, I think as one of the other commenters said earlier, the SEC isn't all that great. Of course I can't think of a single conference that has a team(s) that is great.

I mean the Big 10 has OSU which has escaped some close ones. Pac-10 has USC, ASU and Cal. Big East has its hopes resting at the top with UConn and USF. Big XII had a disaster of a weekend.

Great mental picture of McNabb being driven back into his mattress as he tries to get up this morning... I wonder if he will get any text messages from his new best buddy, David "Hit-Me-Baby-One-More-Time" Carr.......

I think Peyton breaks Favre's TD record. Manning has thrown for at least 25 or more TDs throughout his career and he should have more than 300 by the end of this year.

When are owners going to realize that Norv Turner is better suited being a coordinator and not a Head Coach? What do the Chargers need to finish in order for Turner to be fired? If he is able to bounce back and they finish 8-8 or 9-7 but misses the playoffs does he save his job? Do Charger fans want him to finish 6-10 or worse and then bring in Bill Cowher? Turner obviously does not have the respect of the locker room and he is going to blow up one of the most talented teams in the league. I know the Chargers had to bring in a new HC and two new coordinators but you would think with Turner's track record of suck that they would avoid this guy at all costs. I hope AJ Smith is happy with his decision to get rid of Schottenheimer what a brilliant move by that guy.

Be a shame if Michigan has to forfeit that win. The player they used was only on special teams and they didn't even violate an NCAA rule.

That Lions game was crazy. Watching it I wasn't even realizing what they were doing in the 4th quarter. It just got so back and forth that it was hard to keep track. Nice win though. The loss last week to the Eagles looks a lot worse after how awful they were yesterday.

Here's a sad realization for Florida. They could come out of their next three games 4 - 4. They have #2 LSU on the road, #8(i think) Kentucky on the rad, and Woodson will throw all over that shaky secondary. Then they have to play the #12 Dawgs at the coctkail party. May be the toughest three game stretch any team has to play this season and as "bad" as the SEC has looked this year that is not a scedule I would wish on to anyone.

was at the Giants/Philly game last night. McNabb looks to have lost his mobility. i am also completely baffled by the Giants now. first they allow 100 pts in the first 10 quarters of the season, and now have allowed 3 in the last 6.

Wow, what a weekend Dan. As noted above, could things have gone more wrong for you? You've led the "Farve should just get out" bandwagon for what seems like years, and yet he keeps making you look like more than an idiot.

Florida? Did anyone else think the second greatest image of the weekend (behind Farve carrying Jennings around on the field and looking very much like a little kid) was the Auburn kicker giving the Gator chomp to the UF fans? Don't worry Dan, I'm sure given your "years" of devoted fandom you'll be able to get over the Gator's demise. Their is no dominant conference this year. The SEC is always tough but they have some losses to very mediocre teams. Oh, BTW, Tebow isn't Superman and you can quite slurping him every chance you get for a while.

So much more to go over from an unbelievable weekend of sports. Baseball, Presidents Cup, CFB upsets everywhere, etc..... My alma mater (Penn State- see I actually root for the school I graduated from and not my wife's.) has descended into complete mediocrity and my wife's school (Maryland) beat Rutgers so I had to take a great deal of flak yesterday. However, it was all a little easier to take because all I had to think about was UF (and their obnoxious fans) getting slapped by Auburn, in Gainesville, no less.

BTW, did anyone else have the Chargers in their Suicide Pool/Pools? Yeah, me too. I should be shot for having any faith in Norv Turner to beat anybody, no matter that he is playing at home agaist a horrible team with an equally bad coach. Friggin' IDIOT (both Norvell and me)!!! Wonder how AJ Smith is feeling this morning? Maybe he should call Willie Randolph so they could listen to one another bitch.

A. J. Smith is going to compound his errors by not correcting them - Turner is a living example of the Peter Principle - everyone rises to their level of incompetence. He couldn't coach a sucky team - now he can't coach a talented team. Bottom line: he can't head-coach.

I hate Florida, and all things SEC. But, Tebow is pretty good. He did a great job rallying Florida, and who thinks Florida would not have scored again if they had gotten the ball back.

Thing is, this Florida team came into the season viewed as young and not ready to challenge for a championship (SEC or otherwise). After a few wins against nobody State and U of Nothing, the pollsters move them into the top 5 on sheer reputation and momentum.

The problem is, the voters put them into the top 5, and then the fans started to believe it. That team is very young, and I agree with Michael that we could see them at 4-4 in the next few weeks. This team will finish well, and I would hate to be on their schedule next year.

Wow, I almost feel like a Dan apologist. I take back all after I hate Florida!

The anti-Dan weekend also needed Notre Dame to complete the comeback against Purdue.

Chargers killed me LAST week in the suicide pool, but did claim another victim this week.

I'm surprised, and impressed, that Favre got the TD record before the INT record. 3 to go there, right?

Mets blew a chance for a 4-team playoff...Peavy going for SD reminds me of the Yanks having Guidry's turn come up in '78. Sox shoulda gone to the Eck on short rest! Well, actually, Torrez was good for a few innings.

The ESPN guy last night mentioned running in the house after the school bus dropped him off to see the Dent homer. THAT'S why day baseball is awesome!

Pavlik-Taylor is not among "the most incredible boxing results of the last two decades." Many experts gave Pavlik a great shot, and quite a few picked him to win. What it was was one of the top 3 fights this year, and it gave us a much more likable, not to mention entertaining, person in the top spot in one of boxing's glory divisions. But the result was quite credible.

Come on Dan, you have to keep UConn in your top 25...we don't have much to grasp onto, even if it's only your blog poll.

Maybe when they go on the road and Beat UVA in two weeks and move to 6-0 we'll crack the top 25 for the first time ever.

Can you imagine if a SEC/Pac-10/Big 10 team were 5-0 and unranked? It'd be considered outrageous, but UConn is 5-0 and in a BCS conference that went 5-0 in bowl games a year ago. I know UConn hasn't played anyone, but I'm just saying basically if UConn were Notre Dame and had played the same 5 teams and Notre Dame were 5-0 they'd be ranked in the top 10.

The Gator loss was tough, especially in person. The stadium was as loud as it’s ever been after Tebow ran in to tie it. However, I am not taking this as hard as some losses in the past, mostly because I knew we’d have a few of these this year. As a Gator fan I am extremely excited to see that our defense, with 5-6 freshmen on the field at many points was able to step it up in the second half.

The only negative outside the loss is the asshole USF “fan”/alumnus I work with, who couldn’t name most the players 6 weeks ago. Like everything from Tampa, he’s jumping on the bandwagon. USF is a real good football team, but I question whether they’re actually the 6th best team in the land…

Yankees-Red Sox (again) good for baseball? Maybe for TV ratings and for the ESPN hype machine, but not for the long-term health of the game. It would just further fuel the idea that those 2 are always going to win because they can spend the most, turning off fans in middle to small market cities. An Indians-Cubs World Series would be the best-over 160 years of no championship at stake!

For the past nearly two decades, Atlanta Braves pitchers have been known for two things:

(1) Benefiting from an extra foot on each side of the plate, and

(2) Choking when it came down to a big game.

So, why in the world would Willie Randolph start a former Atlanta Brave in the most important game of the year, knowing that he has never been a reliable pitcher without the four-foot wide plate and that he was a well-established choker?

I was talking to a friend who teaches freshman comp at UF. She called me after her morning class to tell me that supposedly Meyer went apeshit on the team after the game. I am now convinced that Auburn is still trying to pay us back for that fg that Spurrier kicked which basically won him the heisman. I really wouldn't want to be LSU next week. Of course the last time we won a title in FB we lost two games the following year which made us beating FSU that much more sweet. As a true born and bred gator I know that all it takes to have a successful season is to beat UT, UGA, and FSU. Our team is very young, but with a season under their belts we could be unstoppable the next two years.

Regardless this has been so far the craziest season of football college and pro that I can remember.

USF is not the 6th best team in the country. Their defense might be but their offense is average at best.

Where is some love for the Bucs Dan. I figured we would be lucky to go 4-12 this year but our o-line is solid even with petitgout out and we have a good corps of Rb's even without the FORD (fix or repair daily) in the backfield. No one is talking about the bucs and how they are running away with the sorry ass NFC south.

Even though my fav team lost this might have been the best weekend of sports ever.

#1 - The Bears are horrible. Rumor has it that they will go after McNabb. Yup, that's just what we need another washed up QB. Let Griese finish the year and play Orton next year. See you Sexy Rexy.

#2 - USC almost beat themselves. Four of the first eight penalties were personal fouls. They had over 150 yards of penalties and held UW to under 200 total yards. Something is very wrong here when that happens.

#3 - The Cubs get Arizona. This should be a short series if the Cubs don't come out hitting. It doesn't help that AZ has some great SP. Good luck Cubbies. There is always next year.

#4 - Thanks Houston for screwing me in eliminator.

#5 - What a year for CFB!!! This just shows that recruiting and coaching has created a much more linear effect. There will always be good/great teams but there is more disparity in recent years than I can remember.

I love that BC is ranked #6 and #7 in the polls... there's no way in hell that we're really the 6th or 7th best team in the country, but it's still awesome while it lasts. Woohoo! We're ranked higher than Florida! Woohoo!

who else say osi taunting mcnarb wit the campel's soup eating dance? fantastic. mcnarb has zero mobility. he is lucky philadelphians are preoccupied with the stupid phillies right now.

dan - soprry about florida (not really) but you have to be able to write more about last weekend than that. suck it up - RU lost the first game after getting ranked in the top 10 for the second consecutive year. you still ahve a national chmapionship trophy to polish. dont be sucha baby.

Have the MLB playoffs ever been more wide open? In the AL, can you really say any of the 4 teams is better than each other? I thought the Angels were the most consistent and the best team most of the year. The Red Sox stumbled a little lately but still tied for the best record and should have their Japanese pitchers a little more rested along with Manny and Youkalis being back. Cleveland is a solid team all around with CC Sabathia and Carmona being the best top two starters of any team. As a Yankee fan, I tend to not want to overhype them but their offense is just sick this year when they get started. If they knock a starter out early, watch out. Also I think this is A-Rod's year where he shows up for the postseason.

NL teams are definitely weaker than the AL teams but that means nothing as the Cards showed last year. I would like to see the Cubs and Lou Pinella win the pennant and WS if the Yanks don't make it. Of course, who can argue against the Rockies the way they are playing lately.

Well as expected, the US didn't fare too well in the RWC. The round robin stage is over and the US finished 0-4.

The most interesting quarter final game is defending champ England against one of the tournament favorites (or should I say favourites) Australia. Host country France has to play powerhouse New Zealand who has destroyed all the competition so far.

Wait a second! If Michigan has to forfeit its game against Penn St for using an inelligble player, how many other games did this kid play in? Did he play in the ND game meaning they'ld have to forfeit that game as well so ND would be 1-4 instead of 0-5?

Thanks for the comments on Pavlik! A great young man who respects the sport, goes out, fights and shuts his trap. It was electric inside Boardwalk Hall. Taylor out punched, out boxed and out classed Pavlik, but Pavlik's discipline was the difference and Taylor went down in a heap when Pavlik caught him in the corner and pummeled him.

Let's see if they can bring boxing back to relevancy with Pavlik as "THE CHAMP", but I say it will not happen. Especially since boxing has their belts named after a spoonful of alphabet soup.

The Michigan kid is only ineligible by Big Ten standards (not NCAA standards) I believe, so it would not affect the ND game. At this point, rooting for someone's ineligibility sounds like the best hope for Notre Dame fans right now.

And I watched the fight this weekend and it was fun. Then I remembered one of the things I hated about boxing when they announced the judges scorecards' and they all had Taylor winning by several points.

I so enjoyed the Gator loss and I DID catch the Auburn kicker do the Gator chomp...that was a classic!!

NO love for the Browns spanking the Ravens? I couldn't believe my ears when I got into the car and it was 17-3.

Stupid McNabb forced me into a tie in my family's football Pick 'Em. He's such a whiner and gave Philly fans even more reason to hate on him. Now I have to hope that New England holds Cincy to minimal points and doesn't score more than 40+ points.

I hope the Tribe beats the Yankees Thursday so that we can start this playoff series off strong. I'd like to see an Indians-Cubs series too. Battle of the Championship-starved Fans!

Unbreakable record? I don't know if you have seen the stats, but there is a little QB out there named Peyton Manning who is way ahead of Marino's and Farve's TD pace. I am no Colt fan, but the Indy offense is set up for Manning to destroy whatever Farve's eventual total is...

Is it just me or do people get the sense from Dan's Deadspin column that he is trying to use some sort of reverse-psychology. He thinks if he keeps saying Florida will get crushed at LSU, he can't lose either way. If they lose, he was right...if they win, he's already tried to set expectations so low that it will be monumental and some sort of great accomplishment. CMFost does the same thing. He figures if he says the Yankees will sweep or win in 4, he can take something away from the accomplishment if they actually do, and if the Indians win (which they have a good chance of), it'll be a huge Yankee failure.

That's why I'm calling out this below-the-belt tactic. Dan you know Florida can win the LSU game so stop trying to lower expectations. And the same with you CMFost, you know the Indians have two of the best pitchers in the league and can easily win the series against the Yankees, so stop trying to play it off, to take away from the Yankees.

And hey, the TBS crew is pretty good. Don Orsillo, Joe Simpson. They're just talking baseball....no stupid promos for crappy series that'll be canceled in two months. THAT is refreshing, this time of year. (Hear me, FOX?)

This weekend was the perfect anti-Shanoff weekend. Your "favorite" CFB team Florida got shitted on. Your NFL picks went 3-10. Brett Favre, one of your most hated players, broke the all-time TD record. Your midseason prediction that the Mets were the new team of NY...went to shit after an epic Mets collapse. Perfect.Weekend.

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.